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Data from the Census Bureau shows that 42.4 million immigrants (both legal and illegal ) now live in the United States. This Backgrounder provides a detailed picture of immigrants, also referred to as the foreign-born, living in the United States by country of birth and state. Read more...

This study is one of the first to estimate the total impact of illegal immigration on the federal budget. Most previous studies have focused on the state and local level and have examined only costs or tax payments, but not both. Based on Census Bureau data, this study finds that, when all taxes paid (direct and indirect) and all costs are considered, illegal households created a net fiscal deficit at the federal level of more than $10 billion in 2002. We also estimate that, if there was an amnesty for illegal aliens, the net fiscal deficit would grow to nearly $29 billion. Read more...

Insidesources.com, October 23, 2016
Immigration is a federal government program. Like many programs, it can be beneficial. But also like many programs, it has become overgrown and no longer serves the national interest.
A modern society like ours doesn't need any immigration. With a third of a billion people spanning a continent, the idea that America can't prosper without importing people from abroad is silly. Read more...

This Backgrounder provides a detailed picture of the number and socio-economic status of the nation’s immigrant or foreign-born population, both legal and illegal. The data was collected by the Census Bureau in March 2007. Read more...

This study examines academic and government research on the question of immigrant crime. New government data indicate that immigrants have high rates of criminality, while older academic research found low rates. The overall picture of immigrants and crime remains confused due to a lack of good data and contrary information. However, the newer government data indicate that there are legitimate public safety reasons for local law enforcement to work with federal immigration authorities. Read more...

As Americans continue to debate what to do about the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East, this analysis attempts to estimate the costs of resettling refugees from that region in the United States. Read more...

In September the media reported that the Obama administration was sitting on a damning Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report that called into question the administration’s claim that as many as 81 percent of people attempting to cross the border illegally are apprehended.
This new report, whose full text the Center for Immigration Studies has now obtained, estimates that nearly half of illegal aliens slip through the southern border undetected. Read more...

Sanctuary jurisdictions remain a significant public safety problem throughout the country. About 300 jurisdictions have been identified by ICE as having a policy that is non-cooperative and obstructs immigration enforcement (as of September 2015). Read more...

This Backgrounder lists steps the next president can take on immigration — legally — with his or her own pen and phone early in the next administration. Our suggestions for executive action cover the full spectrum of immigration, from lawful permanent residents to nonimmigrant entrants to illegal immigration. Read more...

Various media sources are reporting that president-elect Donald Trump, in an interview with Time Magazine arranged concurrent with that magazine's naming him person of the year, said in relation to so-called Dreamers who came illegally as minors to the United States:
We're going to work something out. ... They got brought here at a very young age, they've worked here, they've gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they're in never-never land because they don't know what's going to happen. Read more...

This Backgrounder examines illegal immigration-related document fraud and identity theft that is committed primarily for the purpose of employment. It debunks three common misconceptions: illegal aliens are “undocumented;” the transgressions committed by illegal aliens to obtain jobs are minor; and illegal-alien document fraud and identity theft are victimless crimes. Read more...

This analysis tests the often-made argument that immigrants only do jobs Americans don’t want. If the argument is correct, there should be occupations comprised entirely or almost entirely of immigrants. But Census Bureau data collected from 2005 to 2007, which allow for very detailed analysis, show that even before the recession there were only a tiny number of majority-immigrant occupations. Read more...

Every year, 300,000 to 400,000 children are born to illegal immigrants in the United States. Despite the foreign citizenship and illegal status of the parent, the executive branch of the U.S. government automatically recognizes these children as U.S. citizens upon birth. Read more...

It looks like the main part of the EB-5 program, now scheduled to end on Friday (December 9) will get another short-term extension until April 28, 2017.
It appears that the extension will be, to use the D.C. term, "a clean one" — in other words, none of the badly needed reforms to the immigrant investor program will be included. The extension will be a small part of the continuing resolution that will fund the government until next April. Read more...

Using the latest Census Bureau data from 2010 and 2011, this paper provides a detailed picture of the more than 50 million immigrants (legal and illegal) and their U.S.-born children (under 18) in the United States by country of birth, state, and legal status. One of the most important findings is that immigration has dramatically increased the size of the nation’s low-income population. Read more...

This Memorandum examines the costs and likely impact of the 2010 iteration of the DREAM Act which was considered by Congress. The act offers permanent legal status to illegal immigrants up to age 35 who arrived in the United States before age 16 provided they complete two years of college. Read more...

This Backgrounder describes the enforcement actions that take place prior to, and that result in initiation of, removal proceedings, one form of which is a hearing before an immigration judge. Read more...

Almost everyone agrees that something has to be done to resolve America's illegal immigration crisis. But will any of the reform plans that include a "pathway to citizenship" for illegal immigrants solve the problem? I voted for President Barack Obama twice and I support the DREAM Act. But as a former foreign service officer who has issued thousands of visas to immigrants who played by the rules, I believe there are several things Americans need to know before they decide where they stand on immigration reform. Read more...

The Obama administration is going to resettle in the United States an unspecified number of asylum seekers from Australia's offshore detention centers on the small island nation of Nauru and on Manus Island, part of Papua New Guinea. Australian officials hope to close both detention centers and resettle most (if not all) detainees before President Obama leaves office. Read more...

Introduction: The American Labor Market
Twenty years ago the United States enacted an ambitious legislative program to get America moving. The 1964 tax cut and other economic policies spurred economic growth, while Congress was enacting a Civil Rights Act to end discrimination and President Johnson was launching the War on Poverty. Read more...

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization founded in 1985.
It is the nation's only think tank devoted exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic,
fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States.